Building R.Shea Brewing: Weeks 35 & 36, March 29 – April 11

After the brewing of the first official batch on the large 3.5 barrel system, it became apparent of what projects to finish next. Even though it was a ‘real’ batch, it was still a test batch in that it helped determine what more was needed for an efficient brewday.

The LAST tiling job…I swear…

Up until now the brew system was sitting on cinderblock and capstones – rough placement. Cinderblock absorbs water (spills) and retains it…for days. For sanitation and cleanup, I needed to get the block in its final resting position, mortared and tiled.

Now that is NICE…and clean.

Fermentation temperature control

I have three 3.5 barrel fermentors and two 1/2 barrel fermentors. I needed to get them hooked up to the new glycol chiller. The chiller will cool the beer into the low 40 degrees so that the yeast drop out, clearing the beer enough to filter it easily. BUT I also had my original glycol unit that I will use as a ‘heater’ to keep the fermentation between 70-80 degrees initially.

Being that I didn’t have the money or the knowledge to build a solenoid-based, automatic system of maintaining temperature – which most breweries use, I built a manual glycol manifold system…with a little help.

I have to thank McMasterCarr for the help on this. They had all the parts needed to get this built.

My son Trevor on teflon-taping pipe thread – his first time.Assistant brewer Jesse also helped in the manifold system, also his first time in teflon taping pipe threads.It looks complicated but it works, cheaply…I can plug any fermentor into either a ‘hot’ of ‘cold’ side to regulate temperature.

At the end of the day, there were NO LEAKS! Trevor and Jesse did a good job.

The next few weeks…

A lot of little details need addressed now. Wall art, final trimmings etc. A LOT OF ETC! We also have to make a final decision on bar seats – something that has been vexing us for quite a while.